I use the term, “Sci-Fi Prose Poetry”, which I think best describes the type of novel it is. It is simply not conventional enough to meet the criteria against which most fiction can be judged. I got the feeling that the first part of the novel is a narrative, and the rest is, well, whatever you think the mental ramblings of strange creatures are. Other pages are just a word, or just a paragraph or two. But some pages are just the same words repeated over and over and over. It is actually 323 pages long in paperback, which does not make it a short or small novel. I had a hard time finding the words to describe this novelette or short novel. Sci-Fi and Fantasy are supposed to be largely fictional and imaginary, and VanderMeer is a writer of prodigious imagination, but this time he has outdone himself. Dead Astronauts – A Novel, by Jeff VanderMeer (Series: Borne Book 2, publisher: MCD, December 3, 2019, hardcover, 336 pages) This is despite some sections being about awful things, or nightmarish, surreal situations. But each part is, in itself, beautifully written, word for word, or just simply beautiful. Parts are futuristic and technical, others are pastoral, others are so unusual than I don’t know what to call them.
Some parts of this novel do rather look like they were written by a “weird Thoreau” (Henry David Thoreau), as VanderMeer is dubbed in the New Yorker – a suitable moniker since he is a writer of “New Weird Literature”. Rather than sit down and try to figure out what it means, like I tried to do, I suggest that you simply allow yourself to sink into the experience of reading this like into a deep, warm bath. If you enjoy poetry as well as Science Fiction, you will appreciate Dead Astronauts.
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